buzzits power project

[Aaron Graham]

Yes it is, and that mean you will have to have skin tight LODs but the problem will be the shadows, as you can see, but to me it's not a great problem. For skin tight LODs the LOD may end up being a little up in the polys, but sense this is a pole were taking here it should not be a major problem.

The other way is to make the part below the 0 z axis is to make a separate model, just the part below the model and export that make use it as a in the SC4 PIM.

[jmyers2043]

I know there will be a shadow problem, I said before there's not really a way to fix it, unless modder here know how to stop it.

Don't mean to hijack Buzzit's thread - but - The reason for the shadow in Aaron's example is because he combines the above ground part of the building and below ground foundation as one model. The game treats below grade stuff differently than above. Below grade props such as piers that extend over and down into water should have the property 'is ground model true' turned off. That will remove the below grade shadow in that instance. Aaron showcases a model that requires a shadow for the above ground part and no shadow for the below ground component. you can have one or the other but not both.

The way for Aaron to solve his problem is to make 'real' foundations. A separate model that is rendered as a foundation. I did a tutorial in my bat thread when I was asked by another batter how I did foundation work. Note that the barn and it's associated foundation produce the correct above ground shadows with non of the undesirable stuff. 

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=536.msg294366#msg294366

@ Buzzit. IIRC the Maxis power poles have that square foundation underneath. I don't know if it's a lot foundation or a buidling type foundation off hand. You can probably remove the lot foundation property without any deteriment other than the power pole may hover above ground if it has a wide base.

One thing I'd do is to develop a knowlege about the power poles which is something I don't have but assume you do because of your interest in the subject. See if there is a foundation property in the exemplar. then determine what kind of foundation it is (lot or building) then go from there. And remember, a below grade model has to have tight LODs.

Good Luck

- Jim

[Buzzit]

hey there guys
it yet again has been a pretty busy time with some ups and downs.   so i didnt have much time to continue.
i fortunately have time now! and im really motivated to continue the projects. i finally may have a solution for the slope-friendliness. allthough i dont have high hopes for it it never is bad to try!

unfortunately i have some issues with the pim-x wich doesnt seem to work anymore.
this is pretty annoying. so i have to find another way to get the models ingame the way i want them to be (not as parking lots but functional power lots) so its back to alot of exploring and trying things
if you guys have any suggestions im open to all of them!

since i complete most of the pylons for the 20kV set i als continued on the overhaul of the dutch 150kV set.
i got a little teaser here:

this picture shows all kinds of ways to implant insulators on a pylon. they all have a diffrent function in RL(this will be implimented in-game description of each pylon.)


i might not be as active as i used be but i never abandoned this project!


and jmyers dont worry! if you are able to help others with your suggestions i don't mind at all if you hijack my topic !
thanks for your suggestions btw! its allways nice to learn new things about modeling lotting and general information about this

Buzz

[MandelSoft]

Oh, these pylons are looking great! Keep up the good work!

[Aaron Graham]

Looks great, Keep it up.

[FrankU]

Hi Buzzit,

Did your SC4-Pim stop working after you set up Win7-SP1? Then take a look at this thread: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14216.0
CasperVg has the solution to your problem.

Good work by the way!

[Buzzit]

thanks alot FrankU
its working again wich means i can be slowly back in bussiness

[FrankU]

 

[Buzzit]

hey there i made some progress on the project!

the current to do list is:

Finishing the wireless 20kV pack.
i finally found something wich might work out!


i also make starts to new pylons in the meantime.

after the wireless pack is released i will continue on the 150kV overhaul as you allready knew.
but i also started from scratch with a model.
this model is made with a blueprint so i garantue you some really realistic measurements.

this is what i have so far on that pylon
i present you the 380kV high voltage donau pylon used as primairy type in Holland:


more on that one later as i continue fixing up the models for the 20kV pack

you guys could say im back! 

[mave94]

Good to see you're back. Those dutch pylons will be a great addition.

[kelis]

Yes, good to see you once again  For sure I will use it for my Dutch region, looks so good 

[MandelSoft]

this is what i have so far on that pylon
i present you the 380kV high voltage donau pylon used as primairy type in Holland:

I allways liked that design. Great work!

By the way, could you provide me one of those blueprints? Just curious...

Best,
Maarten

[Buzzit]

By the way, could you provide me one of those blueprints? Just curious...

Best,
Maarten

sure have a look at this.

(Send me a pm it seems i cant put it on the internet like this. the pdf file tells that i cant not be distributed on the internet freely.

they are all on frontal view.
these are all the 380kV and 220kV lines you can find in holland.
This only includes the suspension pylons.

im also planning to model this monster:


this is the biggest pylon in Holland and it might even be the biggest on earth in terms of weight and complete size

but that will be way in the future. it might be even created for simcity5 if the modeling tools make that possible

[metarvo]

It seems like power line BATs are more prone to being completely re-done several times throughout the process than most other BATs, and I say this from personal experience.   

Anyway, nice work on these latest ones.    I thought the different insulator types were rather intriguing.  I assume that orange box is for scale purposes, right?  It's also good that you're using RL measurements where possible.  I sometimes spend hours at a time trying to find blueprints like these online.

[Buzzit]

It seems like power line BATs are more prone to being completely re-done several times throughout the process than most other BATs, and I say this from personal experience.   

Anyway, nice work on these latest ones.    I thought the different insulator types were rather intriguing.  I assume that orange box is for scale purposes, right?  It's also good that you're using RL measurements where possible.  I sometimes spend hours at a time trying to find blueprints like these online.

you bet! i remoddeld some of my pylons atleast 3 times by now. but i finally got enough skill to model most of them in the ways i want in just 1 try.  the only time comsuming thing is the wiring and correct placement of the wires with the corner and diagonal models.

thanks! yes i think the overal quality and realism gets better when adding additional antributes like this.
it might take some more time rendering etc but its worth it if you ask me.

well it took me ages aswel.. but i was fortunate enough to find a dutch pylon apriciation website with a forum with alot of helpfull people who know alot about this subject aswell. and before i knew it i had enough resources.

its just the lack of spare time i have wich gives the project its slow process.

but like i said before im still busy with it.

i have alot of good stuff in store comming!

stay tuned!

[Buzzit]

One of the bugs i just can't seem to fix is the following thing.

I have tryed several things with the reader but that didnt helped either.
maybe i'm overlooking something
anyways
here it is:


When i create a lot i first make the traverses with the insulator into a prop file and i put them on the pylon in the  pim-x lot editor.

But when i do this. you will be able to see the arms through the pole.
i have this with every model including the 20kV ones.

is there something i can do about this?  it would be a massive help in the progress

[MandelSoft]

It has to do with the LODs. There are two things you can do about it:

1) Use custom LODs.
2) Instead of rendering the arms and the post seperate, try to render the wires and the post seperately...

Best,
Maarten

[Aaron Graham]

Yea, custom LOD is the anwser.

[Lowkee33]

Certainly an LOD issue, though I'm not sure that custom ones will solve it.  The game thinks the arms are on top/in front of the base, even if your LODs were extremely tight, you still might have this issue.

I would try Maarten's #2 first (but there is probably a reason you have them separate).  Another solution might be to just not make the arms so close to the base.  If you could remove those 4-8 pixels from the arms, it might look better.

[Buzzit]

Certainly an LOD issue, though I'm not sure that custom ones will solve it.  The game thinks the arms are on top/in front of the base, even if your LODs were extremely tight, you still might have this issue.

I would try Maarten's #2 first (but there is probably a reason you have them separate).  Another solution might be to just not make the arms so close to the base.  If you could remove those 4-8 pixels from the arms, it might look better.

i'm afraid that rendering the wires only gives the same problem. the wires would be seen through the model.

the reason why i work like this is that i want that 'brick texture' you see when placing on a slope to be as broadt the base of my pylons. this is the method i want to use for my slope friendly pylons.

now that we're at it. is it possible to change the that brick texture into a concrete one?